Because F you, that's why

Due to a knee issue I am having I have been MIA from kickboxing for like 2 months. It is devastating. I am so sad and fat. No I'm not really sad, just fat. No fear of the F word here, sistafriends...

I had an MRI Sunday morning so we can get to the bottom of what's going on. So obviously nothing new on that front. Summer was busy, work has been hectic and I've been wedding planning. Needless to say, I fell off the healthy eating trend sadly.

But starting Monday I decided to give it another go. It's not like there's a limit on how many times I am allowed to try, fail and try again right? Meanwhile, I must say I have become a MEAN cook. Trust me when I say 2 years ago I could barely boil water.

My buffalo chicken mac and cheese...is so good....ok but no more of that sadly :(

I decided to pop by and post a recipe I made up that I enjoyed. It's healthy and easy. I'll come back soon and post more but I felt bad with no updates in 2 months! These are great for lunch with some guac. I know it sounds weird but trust me. Low carb and good protein!

Turkey and Black Bean Muffin Tin Meatloaf
1 lb ground turkey
1 egg white (honestly, you can omit the egg, but I added it to mine)
1 can black beans, rinsed in water, then mashed
Pepper to taste
Onion Powder to taste (or fresh onion)
Garlic Powder to taste (or fresh minced garlic)

1) Preheat Oven to 350 F
2) Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl
3) Distribute in a 6 or 12 cup muffin tin (I only had a 6 cup so made a few batches)
4) Bake for 25-30 minutes

Store unused portions in fridge or freezer - when you reheat from fridge microwave for 2 minutes. I eat mine with 100 caloric Wholly Guacamole.

I'll be back soon, and when I say soon, that could be Christmas, but maybe not! Stay tuned.

I can run for more than 3 minutes without stopping, my cat proposed to me & I'm obsessed with mason jars

First things first: WordPress was hit with a giant security bug so I cannot edit my blog...so I moved it here. To read my original blog (which only has 2 posts, wow, I'm really on top of things) go here.

Ah...August. I haven't updated since May...sorry about that. Let's see, in short - my beautiful best friend got married in June and I had the honor of being a bridesmaid. Of course Lauren and I cried like babies the entire ceremony.

It was an absolutely beautiful day & I am so happy for her. The first one of us girls to get married! And a few weeks later...after celebrating our 2 year anniversary by spending a great weekend with family, Dylan and I came home from dinner and Sadie had this around her neck...

I whirled around and there was Dylan, down on one knee with the most beautiful ring I have ever seen. Anyone who knows Dylan knows he is not a very mushy person..well he definitely wowed me with a heartfelt proposal! Once I stopped crying I said YES! So we will be getting married 9/19/15. But I digress - if you want to see more you can check out our incomplete wedding website here.

My summer has been busy, I was really bad at going to kickboxing in July. I know, I know! But now I am BACK and feeling good. I even woke up this morning, on a SATURDAY and got in a good workout. And guess what...drum roll please...guess who can run for more than 3 minutes without stopping? This girl. Ok, stop laughing, this is something I am proud of. I am NOT a runner. Do you know how painful it is to run when you're overweight and you have giant boobs? Let's be real. It. hurts. If anything overweight people work harder because we have more weight to throw around. 

Also, can we talk about squats? I'm about to drop some truth on you. I have been doing what I thought were squats for my entire adult life but for some reason, I never felt sore after. My friends would be like "Oh man, I am dying today from those squats we did yesterday." And I would be like "Yeah...me too..." always wondering why I wasn't sore. Why wasn't I feeling anything?! WELL, this is kind of sad but at 26 I just started doing squats correctly. 

Do you want to know what my "a-ha" moment was? My instructor, Casey, who is WONDERFUL, said: "Picture there's a button behind you and you need to push it with your butt." Say what you want, for some reason, this clicked in my head and now I am a mean squatting machine. I have actually started to do them on my "off" days just because I am THAT excited that I can do them correctly! 

Now how about food, I love food, let's talk about it. Vegetables. I am trying to eat more of them! I have recently become OBSESSED with mason jars. Now I get why my Mimi/her old lady friends/all old ladies have used these forever. They preserve food so much better than plastic! And no weird plastic-y taste. AND they are durable, dishwasher safe and hey, they're cute. And BPA free of course since they are glass and not plastic.

I discovered this blog where someone is just about as obsessed as I am and suggested making mason jar salads. So I decided to give it a try and I am floored with the results. It did take an hour or two on Sunday afternoon to chop up all of the veggies and distribute them, but I made ten salads so Dyl and I each had one for 5 days of the week. I was skeptical of how crunchy and fresh the veggies would stay for a week, especially with dressing. But it's all in technique. Dressing on the bottom, hearty veggies (grape tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, carrots etc) cheese, chicken and lastly the lettuce. 

I am eating one for lunch right now that I canned six days ago and it is fresh and delicious. The cucumbers even pickled a teeny bit in the dressing. So, so good. This will help me get on the way to eating more vegetables. It's been a big struggle of mine as I was brought up on starchy, cost-efficient comfort foods (still love mom and dad's cooking sparingly!) so I am getting better acquainted with veggies as an adult. We were more of a red meat and potatoes family. It's a struggle to be healthy everyday but I am making progress. Hey, I have a wedding to get fit for! ;)

I promised I would leave you something fun and you deserve it if you're still reading this! So here is my original red wine sangria recipe. It's a favorite. I play around with the type of wine/fruit I use depending on the season, but this is the blend I use for summer. Love sangria. Yaaaas. ENJOY!

Millie's Red Sangria

Note: I have a 2 gallon mason-jar-esque dispenser I make this for, so it's kind of a lot, obviously trim down the ingredients if you're making a smaller batch. 

Ingredients:

-1 bottle of your favorite red - I like Barefoot's Sweet Red

-1 liter of gingerale (I prefer regular to avoid the fake sugars in diet)

-2 dashes of cinnamon

-Natural sweetener to taste (You do not need a lot, just about 1 packet - I love Truvia for this)

-1 mini bottle of sparkling wine or champagne 

-a variety of fresh sliced fruits. I use lemons, limes, watermelon and oranges AND in the summer, I freeze them until they are ready to go in the sangria. Makes for delicious ice!